Now I know what the Spanish really think of the Brits

Our urb up in the coto de Vera was a little isolated with only a supermarket and a closed down bar. One derelict bar opened up and was good fun, then a new one was built a bit closer to tour urb. I have frequented regularly and thought I got on well with the owner, even though he speaks no English and my Spanish is still poor.

Anyway, they adopted a stray dog, lovely little thing and very affectionate. I keep joking about bringing him home with us. Every time we go to the bar we seek out the dog and take him a little present of biscuits and such like. Anyway, on Thursday evening, I was outside stroking the dog when the bar owners young grandaughter came out, (she is about 2.5- 3 years) and starting spitting on the dog. Because I was stroking the dog, she began spitting at me too. I was a little taken aback and complained to the bar owner and the girl's parents. Result? They laughed at me, said it was funny and she was only young!!

So, there it is. This owner thinks that Brits are no better than the dogs they mistreat, so i'm afraid he won't be seeing any more of my hard earned cash.

Mark

Yes, Markfish, and isn't it a horrible feeling to come to realise that we as 'foreigners' are only tollerated and spoken to in a friendly manner as long as we are SPENDING MONEY in the local shops and bars.  We had our own experiences whilst spending last winter (5 months) in Spain and, suffice to say, my Spanish is good enough to have really understood what was going on.  The final straw was when my back was deliberately pushed into with a supermarket trolley by an elderly Spanish 'gentleman'.  This hurt me so badly I screamed...and not one Spaniard asked me what was wrong or even if I was OK.  The Spanish 'gentleman' just pretended it hadn't happened and walked off, throwing a look of disgust at me, even though I asked' 'Why did you do this?'

We won't be going back to Spain again.  I have since researched and found many similar stories and articles that have put me off the idea, culminating in this statement from a Spaniard, 'All property and land in Spain belongs to the Spaniards.  British and other foreigner buyers only have loan of it for as long as we allow it'.

We will be spending this winter on the Algarve.  The Portuguese actually LIKE us!

Hi,

Sorry to hear that - I haven't had too many bad experiences there - spanish people jumping the que was the most.  Have to say when in restaurants and supermarkets - I find the staff helpful and friendly and will always greet you and they seem very efficient! Once outside El Muelle a restaurant in Torrevieja my husband and I and kids were waiting to be seated and the waiter ignored us - so I moved my business elsewhere and won't go back to that restaurant.  The worst experience I had as believe it or not in an upmarket english restuarnt in Villamartin the staff who were all english were absolutely appaling - no apology whatsoever.  I must say I love going to spain but we go to the same area all the time as we have an apartment there and so far not too many bad experience that would put me off going.  Here in Ireland people can also be rude - you have to take the good with the bad - but in the situation of the first poster - I would have translated into spanish how you felt because if you don't how are they going to know and won't learn from the situation!

Angela59

Agree the parents should have admonished their offspring and certainly apologised to you but don't think Marksfish, as the title of your thread suggests,  it was because you are Brit.     I have seen many a Spaniard stroke a dog they thought was cute and the child being little more than a baby would not be able to tell the difference regardless of hearing you speak.  

Although the kids seem to 'run riot' I can honestly say that where I live the Spanish adults could not be friendlier or more helpful. Not just to me but all the Brits I know here have nothing but praise for this local community. Would it change if the locals felt they were being outnumbered?  Just like in certain areas of the UK I suspect so.

Once did have an incident in Huercal-Overa when a man purposly knocked over  a friend I was with but immediately several Spanish passing by came to her rescue some apologising for what happened.

Don't discredit a nation on the odd rotten apple.

Bad manners are not restricted to nationality I am afraid, one must remember that cultural differencies are as big a problem as language and as a visitor to Spain I always take this into account.

I have noticed that spitting by adults in public seems common practice and therefore similar actions by a child shoud not come as a surprise, however unpleasant it is to our culture.

However I think the first poster is correct if you are unhappy take your custom elswhere but do let the owner know the reason for your decision and perhaps an apology will be forhcoming.

I love Spain warts and all Life is an adventure so enjoy.

Bbb

i wouldnt let the odd incident get you down too much ,iam sure overtime living in spain you will realise that we are not that different. and you will definately find more positive than negative about the spanish people. and certainly once you interact more and try to speak the language more [however bad it is ] you will find them to be very friendly and welcoming.

No, you just 'think' you know what one Spaniard thinks about the British. Not quite the same thing.

 Maybe it was a bit of a generalisation to put Spanish in the thread and should have put local Spanish instead. It hasn't put me off Spain, just felt so p+ssed off witht he thing that I voted with my feet.

I have noticed that spitting by adults in public seems common practice and therefore similar actions by a child shoud not come as a surprise, however unpleasant it is to our culture.

Yes, but spitting at someone is far worse than on the pavement. The first time I let it go with a stern look, but the second & third time, enough was enough. There was an English speaking Spaniard in the bar at that time who translated for me. This is when they all laughed. Hilarious!!!!

Mark

I am glad that you decided to narrow the margin a little Marksfish, but I think you are still generalising, you said yourself a local helped you out by translating, they can't all be bad there.

Like many others, I can only praise the Locals around me, they have accepted me with open arms, like in all places there are the odd ones that pull a face, but on the whole, I find them a very friendly bunch, and I accept that I am the immigrant here!

Marksfish what a shallow mind, all Spanish dislike all Brits, if we all thought like him perhaps they would.

Marksfish,

I read your thread and I am absolutely disgusted that so-called parents would allow their offspring to spit anywhere, especially at a person.

I try very hard and I mean hard to tolerate the very different culture here in Spain. I love the country, came here mainly for health reasons and now have no wish whatsoever to return to the U.K. There is a rugged beauty here, that always astounds me! I have made and still make attempts to speak the language, without the tenses, I might add.

My upbringing, in London, with working class parents, was nothing special to my mind but when I compare (which is totally wrong of course) the leeway children here seem to have, it makes me cringe!!

I think we must remember that life before democracy here was VERY different. The comparative freedom enjoyed now must be a heady delight for many people of the older generation, with some, I am told, that still find it hard to adjust and make their own decisions!!

We never had those sort of restrictions on our lives, so maybe we should accept the attitudes and behaviour, albeit grudgingly?

 Marksfish what a shallow mind, all Spanish dislike all Brits, if we all thought like him perhaps they would.

Perhaps haydngj, you should read the thread in full, before you also generalise and accuse me of being shallow, so please get off your high horse. You will see (as have a majority replying) that I was referring to Spanish in this particular bar and to a particularly disgusting incident..

For the record the title does not state ALL SPANISH, neither does it state ALL BRITS. It wasn't intended to be a confrontational post, but a reaction to an incident in a particular Spanish area. However as on other threads on this forum lately, there ar people out ther just looking to jump on the derogatory comments or just looking for a fight. Fine, if you're happy to be spat upon, good for you!

Mark

Having read your first post again I must say how sorry i am and hope you will forgive me for jumping to the wrong concusion. I f there can be an excuse for me it is the way the media like to report how bad the Spanish are. I have been in Sain for some time now and have had  a small amount of abuse here but never as much as I have encounterd in the U.K. The drunken youths  in most towns,big and small, make me ashamed to be  British at times. They are the minority that we as Bits are judged all over the globe

I must say sorrry again

I would accept that we as Brits also have a bad reputation abroad and the Spanish a bad rep at home, unfortunately that is the way the cookie has crumbled and it will take a lot for reputations to be repaired. It was never an intention to generalise the whole of Spain, it was just annoying to find this attitude from people we thought we had become friendly with. I have no wish to bash the Spanish, I have found 99% of them to be friendly and accommodating.

Thank you Haydn for the apology, I try to stay out of threads where a lot of niggles are thrown around, I wasn't looking forward to being the one that started one of those threads. I am glad that we can all remain friends now 

Mark

Hi marksfish

I think you have just summed up what a forum is about. Its good to air opinions from time to time and this is the whole point of this. Totally understand where you are coming from. Dont give up there are really good people here and as for the children they are normally sorted out by the grandparents, i still find that the vast majority are very respectfull .

I think the title of this thread led to my comments, perhaps  a little change in the title would be best. Thank you for accepting my snicere appology

Well, I'm glad this thread has gone back on track.

Spitting is quite common here and it doesn't tend to be overly frowned upon.  I have to say though, that I've never seen anyone spat at so as parents they should have said something.

But kids tend to do what their parents do so she probably sees her parents doing it all the time.

There will always be plenty of Spaniards who don't like the Brits.  In fact, many tell me that they were better off under Franco so that shows some of the attitudes we are dealing with here.

I was at a local bar the other day chatting with an English friend about lots of stuff, including the local property market.  As we left I heard the Spanish women on the table next to us have a laugh at us thinking we were estate agents.  They were laughing at he fact that we must be skint now.

Being fluent in Spanish I understood perfectly what they were saying but I let them have their laugh.  It is my regular bar so I didn't want to start an argument in there.  The owners of the bar are actually really friendly to any nationality that goes in there.

Anyway, there will always be issues and there is bitterness towards to the Brits for driving up property prices.  Some tend to forget that we have plouhged huge amounts of money into what were very poor areas before and created thousands of jobs.

There's no point getting upset about it though.  It used to bother me but it doesn't any more.  It's just a fact of life in Spain.

Justin

We spent the afternoon yesterday with the owners of our favourite Spanish bar, helping them celebrate their daughter´s 18th birthday. We felt honoured and privileged to be asked to join them. They consider us more than friends and that´s the way we see them.

Everybody is an individual, whatever nationality, colour or creed, some you like, some you don´t, some are absolutely wonderful.

Irene & Alan

Justin's comment reminds me of when we lived in Mallorca and constantly heard the locals complaining that the Germans had forced property prices up so much that their grandchildren had no hope of getting on the property ladder now. They seemed to forget that it was them who sold their property at vastly inflated prices and went from peasant farmers to spoilt rich fat cats in one generation. What goes around comes around.

Not being a "Brit" perhaps it does not relate to me, but I have had good and bad experiences with the way I have been treated in Spain. Although I look at it as simply being human regardless of nationality or background.

I spend a few months a year in Spain and those months majority of the time I am very welcomed but again as many agree I had my run in with a few bad apples.

Needless to say, Spain is a wonderful country and to allow the odd bad experience ruin your outlook should be avoided. Live and let live :)